Abstract
Universities are facing new challenges that pose various demands for developing learning environments. These challenges are related to different pedagogical approaches, the use of information and communications technology (ICT), the diversification of student populations, and new expectations related to working life. This study focused on university students’ perceptions of preferred learning environments and their thoughts about the best learning environments for the higher-education level. The main data consisted of answers to open questions from 230 students. Additionally, a questionnaire was used to gain an overall picture of students’ experiences in the current learning environment. Five main themes emerged: characteristics of the campus; available resources; flexibility of learning opportunities; pedagogy; and implementation of ICT in education. Further, two larger perspectives were highlighted. One was the need for informal learning environments (where students can study alone or with peers or just hang out). The second perspective pertains to the flexibility of learning, demonstrating the need for learning environments that allow participation without the need to come to the campus for face-to-face meetings. The need for resources (particularly ICT and the support and availability of teaching personnel) was also highlighted. The study provides important perspectives for developing appropriate learning environments for higher education.
Highlights
Universities are facing new challenges that put increasing pressure on the development of learning environments (McCune and Entwistle 2011). Many of these challenges are related to the application of new pedagogical approaches, the rapid development of educational technology, the diversification of non-traditional student populations in need of flexible courses, and the growing expectations related to the skills needed in current and future working life
Regarding information and communications technology (ICT) in learning (Table 2), students indicated that the ICT provided by the university was suitable for learning (M = 3.98, SD = 1.16) and that the resources were sufficient (M = 3.81, SD = 1.22), again there was some room for improvement
The frequency of mentions of categories and sub-categories is listed in Table 4 which shows that the most- commonly mentioned sub-categories were campus (f = 139, n = 76) and resources (f = 122). These were followed by online (f = 100), pedagogy (f = 77), and ICT in education (f = 48). These results indicate the high importance of physical spaces as part of students’ preferred learning environments
Summary
Universities are facing new challenges that put increasing pressure on the development of learning environments (McCune and Entwistle 2011) Many of these challenges are related to the application of new pedagogical approaches, the rapid development of educational technology, the diversification of non-traditional student populations in need of flexible courses, and the growing expectations related to the skills needed in current and future working life. These changes align with a bigger transformation described by Barr and Tagg (1995) as the shift. Traditional university lecture halls allow modifying learning settings to meet the needs of neither contempoary pedagogical practices nor the effective use of modern learning technologies
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